Kabul's mosques

Correspondents Report - Sunday, 9 December , 2001 8:15

Reporter: Eric Campbell

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Well, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, life is slowly returning to normal after the departure of the fundamentalist Taliban.

But concerns remain about isolated attacks by Taliban who've blended back into the community.

Outside Kabul, growing lawlessness is hindering the work of aid agencies who want to deliver food, blankets and medicine as freezing temperatures begin to claim lives.

From Kabul, Eric Campbell reports.

ERIC CAMPBELL: Friday prayer at Kabul's main mosque. Four thousand people gather for a new message from new leaders.

The Taliban's fanatical mullahs, most of them ethnic Pashtuns from the south, have fled. In their place, mainly Tajik mullahs urging unity under the Northern Alliance.

'We shouldn't think of ourselves as Tajiks or Pashtuns' they are told, 'we are all Muslims and Afghans, and should live like brothers'.

But the presence of armed soldiers among the faithful is a sign of how unity is still more a concept than reality.

'I have to be ready for an enemy attack', one soldier told me, briefly removing his Kalashnikov to wash before praying.

Outside the mosque, bands of Northern Alliance soldiers roam the streets. But outside Kabul, most roads are still unsafe, travellers at the mercy of bandits and tribal warlords. Even territory held by the Northern Alliance isn't necessarily secure. The northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif was liberated from the Taliban six weeks ago, but the United Nations has withdrawn its staff after continued clashes between the alliance's Tajik and Uzbek factions.

In secure towns, the aid agencies are beginning their work. But for now, millions of other dispossessed can only hope that God will provide.